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Arabella d'Aurenière
Arabella d'Aurenière is the protagonist and narrator of much of the Recrudesce Series. She is the bastard daughter of Princess Suzanne of Savoy and Edmund Harwood, Duke of Parryshire, but was raised in ignorance of this by her aunt Isabella and uncle Rupert. She married her lifelong best friend, Ava St Clair, in a clandestine ceremony just before her sixteenth birthday. Birth Ella's existence came to be due to her biological mother, Suzanne, having demanded to follow her best friend Kristian to school in America. Her parents were eventually worn down and gave in, and she spent her teen years away at St Peter's School in the state of New York. At the age of seventeen, while spending the summer with her friend Rachel Halliday in the Hamptons, she met Edmund Harwood, heir to the Duchy of Parryshire, at a party. He took a fancy to her, and she allowed his courtship despite their vast age difference, enjoying the attentions even if she was not interested. She had become evermore infatuated with Kristian, and hopelessly, as he had been betrothed to his cousin, Princess Annika of Sweden, since they were children. When he at last had the heart to spurn her affections once and for all, she took revenge by sleeping with Edmund, and accidentally became pregnant. Edmund had ordered to Suzanne to abort the baby, until she assured him that it was the male heir he desperately desired. The two then planned to marry after their prospective son's birth. In the late summer of 1930, they travelled to France, and Suzanne gave birth on the 20th August at the Palace of Versailles. She was ordered to get rid of the unwanted daughter, and her older sister Isabella and her husband Rupert, unsure if they would ever have daughters of their own, offered to take her in. Suzanne's pregnant had been a closely-guarded secret, and with Isabella claiming that she had kept her confinement to herself due to early complications, and not shown much, no suspicions were raised. Ella was legitimised as her and Rupert's child, and given their family name. Suzanne and Edmund returned to New York, not to see Ella again for a decade. Early Life Ella was baptised in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris on 3rd September 1930, with Algernon St Clair (Isabella's best friend), Otto von Brandtburg-Fitzaren (paternal uncle), François d'Aurenière (cousin) and Charlotte de Charolais (cousin), being named as her godparents. She was raised between the Palace of Versailles (her maternal grandparents' home), and a mansion at 18, Quai de Béthune on the Ile Saint-Louis, which her mother had been gifted upon beginning her studies at the University of Paris. It was a largely happy childhood, despite her the distance between her parents, and the long absences of both of them. In the main she was raised by her grandparents, Marie and Alexandre, and her nurse, Clarisse Girard. At the age of five, she begun attending Madame Josephine's Academy for Young Ladies, an exclusive little school in the Latin Quarter. Also in her class was her best friend since infancy, Ava St Clair, and Sophie Bellaire. Ella's other close friends, Aubry de Charolais, Theo Desroches-Vauquelin and Freddie de Malleville attended the nearby affiliated boys establishment, The King's School, alongside her brothers. At the age of six, she witnessed her mother in a passionate embrace with her lover, Richard Ashcotte, an incident which deeply affected her as she feared her father would find out and the family be torn apart. She never told anybody about what she had seen. In January 1939, her youngest brother, Charlot, passed away from pneumonia. During a family holiday to Saint Lucia when she was ten, Ella was kidnapped by armed men on the orders of Edmund Harwood, and taken to England. Parryshire Clueless of why she was ripped from her family by her aunt and uncle, Ella began her life at Westerwick Hall, ancestral home of the Harwood family. Barely able to speak a word of English, she struggled both there and at Westerwick Preparatory School, where she had been sent, despite a governess being available at the Hall. She befriended Marianne Woods there, a small consolation to her, but otherwise withdrew into herself and locked her emotions away. Ella was allowed to return to Paris in the Christmas of 1940, for an emotional reunion with her family and friends, but went back to Westerwick as soon as the holidays were done, a confusing pattern that continued over the next few years. Just before her eleventh birthday, during a visit to family in Sicily, Ella's suspicions were raised by a conversation she overheard between her mother and others of different nationalities, discussing the recent split of crime syndicate The Circle. She also became convinced she had seen Richard Ashcotte again. In September 1942, despite her pleas to come home, and for an explanation, Ella began at Bishops College in Ryingdon, alongside Marianne Woods. In contrast to Westerwick Preparatory, where she had been too different to ever fit in, she flourished at Bishops, improving her English and playing for the First Form's girls hockey team. She took up her violin and piano tuitions again, and made fast friends with Marianne's cousin Johnny Cooke, his friend Scott Lewis, an American diplomat's son, and Laura Farleigh, Edmund's niece. She was a member of Richford House, and got along well with her House Mother despite always being hauled into her office for pulling pranks. The content existence came screeching to a halt when her aunt Cathy came to visit in November, to inform her that Isabella had been in a traffic collision, and passed away. Early Teenage Years Devastated by the loss of her mother, Ella sank into a deep depression that would never truly leave her. Suzanne and Edmund relented with their imprisonment, and she returned home to Paris, and Madame Josephine's. There she remained until the Spring of 1943, when her father decided to send all of his children away to Ryingdon for school, even little Antoine who could not speak a word of English. A blazing row with their father did nothing to sway his mind, and Ella found herself back at Bishops College for the final term of the academic year alongside her brothers. Only when they arrived, it was to find the registration fees had not been paid, and none of them were registered to attend. Gabriel, too proud and determined they could work it out without embarrassing their father, used what little money they had in their posession to settle them in a guesthouse in the north of Ryingdon while he tried to contact their father, who had seemingly vanished without a trace, even disconnecting his home telephone. Unable to go to school, Ella occupied herself otherwise, and after being witnessed dancing in a street one day by teacher Edwin Bailey, was invited along to a dance class. There she met Allie Stevens, and became instantly - if unknowingly - infatuated with her. Allie, the star of a new musical due to soon open at the Ryingdon Playhouse, took Ella under her wing and nutured her performance talent, and offered her the part of a younger her in the production. Eager to escape the monotonous, miserable life she had been enduring, Ella accepted. One night after rehearsals she fatally went out for drinks with the rest of the cast, having spent hours tarting herself up to look the 'nearly fifteen' she had claimed herself to be. Another member of the cast, Jack Fotheringham, who had previously been away with an understudy in his place, took a fancy to her and got her horrendously drunk. Later that night, he took her home and took her virginity, an incident she would later hardly remember, having been so intoxicated. Feeling violated by what had occured, Ella stumbled back to the guesthouse the next day and in a fit of emotion hacked off the long curls she had had since childhood. Changing relationship with Ava Post Summer 1946 Ryingdon Revenge on The Circle The Lost Year Los Angeles London Appearance Ella was born with pale blonde hair, that grew out into messy curls and darkened a little as she became older, but always remained golden. She has pale green eyes, surrounded by eyelashes that she always despised for being too fair and short. Everyone said from her birth that she strongly resembled her mother Isabella, and her grandmother Marie, though the latter had brown hair. Her skin tans easily, and freckles in the sun, though she looks very pale in winter. Ella has a girlish face, with full lips and soft features, though they have been said to also have a haughty, arrogant slant to them. She is about 5"8, and had always been tall for her age. She has a slim and athletic body from years of sport, but larger than average breasts that irk her. It was a relief to all who knew of her parentage that she did not take after her dark father, and instead had typical Aurenière looks. See Also *The Aurenière Family *The Brandtburg-Fitzaren Family *The Harwood Family *The Circle *Bishops College *Royal University Category:Characters Category:Recrudesce Category:Rota fortunae Category:Narrators Category:Aurenière Family Category:LGBT characters Category:Rota Fortunae